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Michael Jai White dabbled with the Blaxploitation genre in his cult classic “Black Dynamite” Unlike everyone else, the comedy flick was a black cinema anomaly: Tyler Perry movies were everywhere, and “The Princess and The Frog” was the first Black Disney princess for the majority of the movie. Meanwhile “Black Dynamite” was the freshest animated black film, which possessed enough kinetic energy to give birth to an animated series on Adult Swim: which happened shortly thereafter.
Shedding a pair of flared pants for a gunslinger hat, White returns to genre spoof movies with his latest, “Outlaw Johnny Black” Here the filmmaker lovingly tips his hat at the spaghetti western genre, Gore Verbinski with “Rango” or translucent Sidney Poiter with “Buck and the Preacher” at a much earlier stage. “Outlaw Johnny Black” is a well-crafted and funny Spaghetti Western comedy, where it is refreshing, and has a delightful lead, but it takes too long to get the gun out.
“Johnny Black”, like many other movies, begins with the protagonist, a man who seems unperturbed (portrayed by Michael Jai White), riding on a horse into the old American Cheyenne, Wyoming. He finds his way to a nearly deserted bar to take a drink while attempting to eat the unwelcome word in his mouth. Black glances outside and notices a white gangster mistreating two Native Americans. Black pushes the head of a black gang member who tries to bully him on the ground without any resistance from his side. While the leader crumples, an onlooker declares, “He was about to call me nincompoop”, and my personal favorite, White shouts his experience working behind the camera while he unleashes his trademark martial arts in a classic Italian gun-fighting White branded style of the 60s. Along with embracing the classic Western roots of the film, White adopts a new form of comedic relaxation and in turn, brings out a style that enables him to remain more calm.
In typical fashion, “Outlaw Johnny Black” follows the gunslinger Johnny Black, who hunts for Brett Clayton (Chris Browning), the man who murdered Black’s father when Black was a child.
His desire for revenge is so intense that he keeps a bullet with Clayton’s name engraved on it.
After rescuing the Native people in the first few minutes, Black gets imprisoned because, well, it’s in the name. He quickly escapes from being hanged and goes into hiding. Black stumbles upon Reverend Percy (a wickedly funny Byron Minnis) who gives him water while he is dehy-drated in the blistering hot desert. Percy is on the way to a nearby mining town that has a majority black population to become a pastor and meet his lover, Bessie Lee (Erica Ash), whom he has been writing to. While two are on the way a Native tribe attacks and Percy gets an arrow through his chest. But no need for concern, he is fine. Strangely he ends up in a bizarre Looney Tunes-type scenario where he is dressed as a bird.
Black escapes, disguising himself as the preacher’s name ‘Percy’ and moves to the new town. Once he is aware that the church holds some wealth, he plans on waiting until he is able to steal the money and leave. Soon enough, he mixes in with the community and falls for the beautiful sister of Bessie Lee’s sweetheart, Jessie Lee (Anika Noni Rose). But the infamous Land Baron (Barry Bostwick) has now gained control of the town. As Percy gets to the town and sees Black impersonating him, Black uses his gun to blackmail him into letting him act as preacher until it is appropriate time.
Though the banter is toned down compared to “Black Dynamite” White’s honest direction his choice of camera angles during the gunfights, chaotic bar brawls makes up for it tremendously. He seems far more contemplative and grown with “Outlaw Johnny Black” He most certainly balances the theme of character focus, in this case an outlaw understanding the strength of a community, with tempered grace. While he is most memorable for his ability to perfectly capture every element of the Western genre in prose and in film, White’s strongest asset, which sets him apart from all others, is his avoidance of any negative undertones.
He doesn’t attempt to focus on the characteristics that made Black Dynamite successful, neither does he try to be as absurd as other Western parodies.
In Outlaw Johnny Black, White is proud to associate his name with that of Black directors like Poitier, Mario Van Peebles, and The Bullitts. It’s a small list with many R-rated movies to boast about. White’s character is set to be a Western hero for a new generation of children and adults who grew up with no figure like Johnny Black to idolize.
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